Northampton-based cosmetics giant Avon is KO'd by worldwide cyber-attack

Avon has been forced to shut down its online retail operations following a cyber attack.

The Northampton-based global cosmetics brand's website is offline and the Chronicle & Echo believes some agency staff have been told not to go into work following an incident on Wednesday last week.

The firm has remained tight-lipped about the nature of the cyber attack but local reps for the direct sales company have been unable to deliver orders from customers for nearly a week.

Avon, which also has a major distribution centre in Corby, would not comment on how their Northamptonshire operations had been affected.

But a statement from Avon CEO Angela Cretu said: “Avon has experienced a cyber incident that has interrupted some of its systems and partially affected operations. In response, we immediately launched an investigation, engaged third party forensic advisors and alerted law enforcement.

“Our teams are working around the clock alongside the world-class technical experts to re-establish our affected systems. We are planning to restart some of our critical systems in impacted markets throughout the course of the week.

“We are in the process of determining whether personal information has been compromised, and we believe that credit card details were likely not affected as our main ecommerce website does not store that information. Should Avon confirm any suspicious activity affecting individuals’ data, we will notify affected individuals and take all appropriate action.

“The security and confidentiality of our customers’ information is of critical importance to us and a responsibility we take extremely seriously. In addition, we are alerting regulatory authorities and will update them, as appropriate, as our investigation progresses.”